Are Prismacolor Pencils Really Better?

I had to do it. How could I not do it? There I was standing in the middle of that big-box department store watching my girls digging through those bins of glue sticks, scissors and brightly colored notebooks when I spotted them.

Colored pencils. Huge boxes of them! For $3.99? So what’s the deal? A pencil is a pencil is a pencil, right?

My girls chuckled as we checked out because this year, their mom had a basket of school supplies too.

As soon as I got those pencils home, I had to play. I had to see for myself if my Prismacolor Pencils were worth that kidney I had to sell.

I decided to begin by stamping an image side by side in black Stazon ink. (Rubber stamp by Sarah Beise.)

The first thing that disappointed me was when I opened the box of RoseArt pencils, most of the points were broken off. On the other hand, my Prismacolor Pencils didn’t even have points right out of the box so I had to sharpen them too. The Crayola pencils were all perfectly pointed. (That is a bit of a plus when you can’t wait to get started.)

Then, I searched each box, including my Prismacolor Pencils for the most vibrant red. Red is a very important color and it’s one of the hardest colors to create. According to the paint on the outside of the pencils, all of these were going to be very red!

The Crayola one actually looked like it would be the most pure red of them all. The others looked a little dark.

Then, I began to color.

The RoseArt pencil actually felt really good. It lay down color nicely and felt waxy. (That’s important to Odorless Mineral Spirits.) But the color had a lot of pink in it. It was not a true red.

The Crayola Pencil surprised me the most. It was really pink. No matter how much color I layered on, it was still pink. There was NO red in that Crayola box, anywhere! It felt good but not as waxy. I already knew it wouldn’t blend as well by the way it felt.

My Prismacolor Pencil was by far the best feeling and most vibrant red of the bunch. Even the very first light shading of color was true red.

After I blended the color with blending stumps and Odorless Mineral Spirits, here was my result.

My opinion is that you get what you pay for. If you want a top of the line product, true artist blendability and a fabulous selection of the most vibrant colors, the Prismacolor Pencils are the way to go. They are worth the kidney, for sure.

That being said, if you are just starting out and want to add a large selection of colored pencils to your supplies but have a very limited budget, you will not be disappointed at all with the RoseArt brand. They feel nice on the paper, they blend well with odorless mineral spirits and they will give you almost everything you need to practice and learn this technique. Just make sure you have a pencil sharpener. And since Prismacolor Pencils do come in singles, pick up your very own PC923- Scarlet Lake Red. That one, you can’t live without.

This is really good info to know! Thanks, Gina! I too was wondering if it would be worth my time (and very little expense) to try out Crayola when I was shopping for school supplies this year. Alas, I left them at the store for lack of time right now to try them. Thanks again. Great tutorial. LOL

Wow! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this comparison on the products. This will save alot of time and money for all the stampers out there. Now all the stampers that reads this will have that extra money for your Stamp With A Cause stamp sets. (tee hee)

haha…thanks for the test! I do let my daughter stamp and colour with me but she uses her Crayola pencil crayons. I let her use my minerals to blend though. She’ll be taking her Crayola’s to school too!

As usual, you make me feel good about myself and my shopping. I looked at the pencils while my grandchildren were picking out their supplies. I do have a set of Prismacolor and like them a whole lot. I also bought a set of Derwent before our friend Amy sent us for Primsacolor. I keep reading about the copics pens but have enough trouble with my Prismacolor pens. Will not budge on that. Thanks for the commentary. All the more for your stamps.

thanks for the pencil-study. One question – are the prismacolor pencils watercolor pencils? I use my 10 watercolor pencils with my blender pen, and I’m always able to achieve the perfect shade since they’re blendable

THANKS! My sister and I have been having a debate over this very issue. She can not understand why I would waste my money on colored pencils when the pencils she got at WalMart worked just fine. Now I can show her the difference between just fine and fantabulous.

Wow, I didn’t know you could blend the Rose Arts. I love those and my prismacolors too. I usually pack my Rose Arts for traveling since they cost less to replace. Will definitely have to try the blending bit.

Wow, that’s a great comparison! I don’t use the colored pencils to color in but just for school stuff – but I always buy Crayola because I figured they were better. Sure they are cheap when it is school supply time, but the Rose Art is cheaper and I’ve wondered!

WOW!! this has helped me so much and ive made my decision based on this. im havent really worked in the colored pencil department yet (more of a painter) but since i wanted to experiment, i wasnt sure what to get. i heard prismas were way better but i was still hesitant if they were worth it! i just came from a staples and saw a 24 pack for 26 bucks! boy was i shocked. i never knew pencils could be so expensive. but thanks to this [fantastic!] comparison, i absolutely must have them! 🙂 again great job